Crib safety under growing scrutiny

Consumer complaints to government are increasing

November 16, 2008|By Patricia Callahan Chicago Tribune

Less than a month ago, the federal government recalled nearly 1.6 million cribs sold by the world's largest distributor of baby beds. But parents who asked Delta Enterprise for a kit to fix the cribs' hazardous drop rails may have a false sense of confidence, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation.

Government documents reviewed reveal at least 19 instances of an entirely different hazard on the Delta cribs - mattress platforms that drop and create a gap that can entrap and strangle babies.

The revelations about Delta come at a time when crib safety is under growing scrutiny, the result of massive recalls for major manufacturers and large numbers of consumer complaints.

Federal regulators are so concerned that they're being unusually aggressive, embarking on their broadest, most critical look at the safety problems of cribs in more than two decades.

Though cribs are designed for a family to leave a baby unattended for many hours at a time, they are the most deadly nursery product. One missing screw, one broken spindle or one loose mattress support can turn a crib into a deathtrap. Babies' small, flexible bodies can slide through gaps, but their heads get trapped, and they strangle or hang to death. Often, their airways get blocked, so they can't cry out for help.

Two fixes in the 1970s and '80s greatly reduced the number of annual deaths from poorly designed cribs: shrinking the distance between side slats and removing corner posts that could snag children's clothing, leading to strangulation.

But new hazards have emerged in recent years in the face of two fundamental changes in the cribmaking industry: Baby beds today are much more complex, and their construction has shifted almost entirely abroad. Most of the biggest U.S. names in cribs are not manufacturers anymore. They import cribs from contracted factories overseas.

Today's cribs often can be converted into toddler beds and adult beds. But the more moving parts a crib has, the more likely those parts can wear out or get lost when parents take them apart between births or give or sell them to other families.

In the last year alone, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission staff has investigated hundreds of problems with the cribs of many manufacturers, including nine entrapment deaths and many injuries and near misses.

The rash of problems has prompted the commission's staff to challenge the regulatory system established under President Ronald Reagan, which forces them to defer to voluntary standards that are controlled by manufacturers. This month, in writing to the agency's commissioners, the commission's staff argued that those standards "are inadequate to prevent entrapment deaths and injuries of young children." The staff urged commissioners to bypass the industry-led process and move toward federally mandated safety rules for cribs. On Friday, the commissioners agreed.

Commission staff this year urged manufacturers to change the industry's voluntary standard so cribs can't function if mattress supports and drop-side railings are installed upside down, or could function equally well in either position.

Confusing assembly manuals make matters worse. "Some of the instructions are worthless," commission engineer Patty Hackett said last month while discussing the issue with manufacturers at a standard-setting meeting. "I've seen cribs mis-assembled and still operate. That's what scares me." For its part, Delta says the company is aware of complaints about its mattress supports and is working with the commission on the issue.

In just the last two years, the commission has recalled 3.6 million cribs, more than the number of cribs recalled in the previous 30 years combined.